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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26747707">Stuffed Animals Make Everything Better</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Small_Writer/pseuds/One_Small_Writer'>One_Small_Writer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six - Marlow/Moss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anger, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fainting, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Nightmares, Sickfic, Stuffed Toys, online hate</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:46:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26747707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Small_Writer/pseuds/One_Small_Writer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine's go-to comforting method is her stuffed animal collection. After all, stuffed animals make everything better.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stuffed Animals Make Everything Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I love stuffed animals, they're great. I've seen a few Tumblr posts floating around saying that Katherine would have a stuffed animal collection, and I agree wholeheartedly. This was born from that and my love of hurt/comfort.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Katherine loved her stuffed animals. They were her favourite materialistic thing in the world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ever since coming back, she’d been collecting, and since then her collection had grown massively. Her room was covered in them, they lined the perimeter of her room, they sat on her desk and chest of drawers, she had so many that she’d ended up buying a cheap shelving ladder to put them on, and even that was almost full. She’d made herself a roster to which ones she had on her bed with her, she was that serious about them, and she stuck to it religiously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her favourite one of her stuffed animals was a medium-sized brown bear with a T-shirt and a bandaid on his head, a get well gift from the queens when she got appendicitis and got it removed, that she named Heart. He was the only stuffed animal that stayed with her all the time, she couldn’t sleep without him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Compared to some of her others, he wasn’t that fancy, he was pretty simple, but Katherine loved him the most because it was something the girls gave her, it was very early on in their new lives that she got appendicitis and Heart was one of the defining moments the solidified to Katherine that they were her family who she truly belonged with, loved and trusted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hence the name Heart. For the love she felt for the others.    </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine’s stuffed animals provided her great comfort, they were perfect for squeezing when she was sad or when something was going wrong. Even if she relied more on human comfort now, she still liked knowing that when she went back to her room she had a collection of teddies ready to hug (Or rather, crush in her arms).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The other queens also loved Katherine’s stuffed animals, having helped her chose some and helped named a majority of them, they felt as much love for them as she did. They all had their favourites from her collection, and Katherine often offered them up when the others were having a rough day too. She knew how much comfort they brought her, and naturally assumed it’d be the same for the others.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After finding out she was certainly correct, it became a natural thing for Katherine to do when she noticed one of the others wasn’t okay. After all, stuffed animals make everything better.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The front door was pushed open, and five out of six queens pushed their way in. They’d finished the show, everyone but Catalina, and had rushed home as soon as they could. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That morning, Catalina had woken up with a fever after a few days of having a sore throat and feeling generally under the weather. She went to the doctors and came back with a tonsilitis diagnosis and a box of penicillin, and so stayed home on the couch as the others went out for the Tuesday night show, not moving from her position until she felt her temperature go up again and she knew she needed to lay down properly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Suppose she’s gone up to bed then,” Anne stated obviously, hopping over the back of the couch and reaching for the discarded remote on the table. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah probably, being sick sucks, especially tonsilitis,” Cathy said with a slight shudder, moving around to sit beside Anne.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone in the house had been sick in the past month, once one of them got sick it was guaranteed the others did too, so it wasn’t surprising Catalina got sick too. She was last to get it, and as the sicknesses final hurrah, she got it worst.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine stood near the stairs, nodding along with everything the others were saying, eventually excusing herself to go upstairs. She went to her room, quickly changing into her pajamas before grabbing what she knew was Catalina’s favourite of her stuffed animals, a little brown monkey with a red bow tie they gave the unoriginal name of Marcell to, and walked down the hall to her room, knocking softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come in,” Her voice came from the other side of the door, much weaker than normal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine pushed the door open, poking her head in before coming all the way. Catalina was sprawled across her bed, on top of her covers with a wet washcloth over her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed red.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey 'Lina, it’s just me. I brought you Marcell,” She held up the monkey and waved him, walking over and placing him beside her on the bed, “Has your fever gone up again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A little, yeah. And thank you, but I don’t want to get my germs all over him,” She tried to protest, though it sounded pretty bad with the gargle that came with her voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s alright, I can throw him in the wash once you’re done with him. Teddies always make me feel better when I’m not well, so if you want him, he’s there,” Katherine said comfortingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, thank you, Kat. It means a lot, I’m sure he’ll make me feel better too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How was the show?” Catalina asked. Katherine caught the sadness in her voice. They all hated missing shows, but Catalina always got madder and more disappointed in herself when she couldn’t perform.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was good, but it’s not the same without you. We missed you out there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catalina hummed, her eyes drifting shut. “I missed you all here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m gonna let you rest, you seem exhausted. I hope you start to feel better,” Katherine said, leaning down to kiss her hair lightly before turning to walk out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Night Kat.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Night ‘Lina.” Katherine walked into the hall, turning back around to shut the door quietly, not before catching Catalina pull the monkey closer. She smiled to herself and went back downstairs to join the others.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>II</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t incredibly common for Anne to get nightmares, compared to Katherine they were very few and far between, but when she did get them, they were bad. Long and drawn out, seemingly never-ending with endless tears and hyperventilating and a sleepless night from that point onwards. They were really bad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine, whose room was right next to Anne’s and whose bed was on the opposite side of the same wall, was usually the first to know if something was wrong. Anne always responded well to the comfort Katherine provided, trusting her just a tiny bit more than the others due to the knowledge of shared experiences, so when Katherine heard Anne start to whimper and cry as she lay awake watching sitcoms, she quickly sprung into action.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She already knew she was awake, Anne was a sleep crier or screamer, so she planned her course of action around that. She grabbed Anne’s favourite stuffed animal off the floor, a white and purple raccoon Anna ended up naming Mr. Chubs, and her teddy off the bed before sneaking across to her cousin’s room, not bothering to knock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Annie?” She whispered through the darkness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kitty!” Anne gasped, reaching out her arms to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine rushed over, sitting cautiously on the edge of her bed. “Hi Annie, I’m right here. Do you want a hug or do you want some space?” She asked softly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hug,” Anne pleaded, nudging herself closer to Katherine and wrapping her arms around her waist as she sobbed into her shoulder. Katherine held her tightly, stroking her hair, rocking her, and hushing her gently all while Anne cried into her. As her tears began to calm, Katherine pulled back slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I brought you Mr. Chubs,” She said, grabbing him from where she’d put him and Heart down when she’d sat down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anne took him from her with a watery laugh. “Thank you, Kitty,” She whispered, squeezing the stuffed raccoon close to her chest and burying her head in his fluff, “He’s warm.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He was by the vent I think.” Anne nodded absentmindedly. “Do you want me to go get Cathy or do you want just me to stay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just you. I don’t want to bother her again,” Anne murmured. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke up again. “Can you stay in here tonight?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine nodded instantly. “Of course.” She leaned down to collect Heart, and lay down beside Anne, letting her rest her head on her shoulder as she sniffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” She mumbled with a yawn, wincing as tears welled up in her eyes again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be, you know I don’t mind. I understand Anne, you know that.” Katherine assured her. Anne gave a small nod.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two girls lay side by side, staying awake most of the night talking nonsense, holding each other and their stuffed animals close.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>III</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine tip-toed down the dimly lit, practically silent hallway, a bowl of over-filled cereal balancing in her hands. It was late, later than Katherine was ever usually up, but in recent months she’d found herself staying awake into the late hours of the night almost every day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she reached her room, however, the sound of sniffling filled her ears. She froze, looking around her, though no one was in the hall with her. Too curious to resume what she was doing, and not wanting to leave someone awake presumably crying, she walked into her room to put down her bowl and walked back out, looking around again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She went from door to door trying to work out who it was crying. She went to Anne’s first, it was the most obvious answer, and then Cathy’s but didn’t get anything from either of them. She could hear Anna snoring, so didn’t bother checking her room, and her heart sank when she realized that Catalina and Jane were the only two other options. Her pulse racing, she pressed her ear to Jane’s door, her heart lurching when the cries got clearer. It was Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine knocked and walked in without waiting for an answer, Jane never cared if she knocked or not. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mum?” She questioned, walking over to the desk to flick on the night light Jane kept in there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane startled, hastily wiping the tears off her face. “Oh, Kitty, hi love. Are you alright?” She asked, trying to control her voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you alright though? I heard you crying,” Katherine asked, her voice laced with concern as she walked over, sitting beside Jane and giving her a side hug. Jane turned to hug her properly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine love, I’m just being silly.” She shook her head dismissively, still wiping her eyes behind Katherine’s head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think you’re being silly, you’re clearly upset. Hang on, I’ll go grab you Star. I’ll be right back.” She pulled away and raced down the hall to her room, grabbing a bright blue elephant off her desk (Named for the star pattern in her ears) and ran back on light feet. She passed Jane the elephant and sat down to hug her again, leaning her head on her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell me what’s wrong?” She asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just some stupid posts I saw online, it’s really no big deal,” Jane sighed, pulling her daughter closer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It sorta is, are people saying things about you?” Her voice was tense, angry, at the thought of people saying things about her mother. She was fiercely protective of all the queens, everyone was protective of everyone in their house, but she was extra protective of Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, just comparing me and my story to everyone else’s,” She mumbled sadly, fiddling with the ears of Star on her lap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine’s blood boiled, red hot anger coursing through her veins, and her body tensed slightly. Jane must have noticed, she always noticed, because she squeezed her gently and kissed her hairline.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay sweetheart, I’m alright,” Jane promised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it or anything?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shook her head. “Not exactly, there isn’t a lot to talk about really. I just want to sit here with you,” She said, squeezing Katherine again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>IV</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Anna was mad, everyone in the house knew about it. She was loud on a good day, they were all always loud, but on a bad day, she was even louder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Stomping footsteps up and down the hallway and slamming doors, cabinets, and anything that could slam. She’d yell at everything she could and occasionally threw some soft things around (Or some leftover fruit at the ground), though she never yelled or directed anything at the other queens and she was never violent. That was just how Anna got her anger out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Anna got really angry the others generally stayed out of her way, they knew when she got like that she needed space to cool off, they just listened to her if she wanted to talk and intervened when things got really bad. Anna liked being alone when she was mad, so they left her alone. Simple as that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This particular instance of ‘Anna Anger’, no one actually knew why she was mad. All they knew that whatever it was, it was bad. She’d hardly come out of her room all day, and when she did it was very clear she was fuming. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The atmosphere in the house was tense and awkward, everyone was quiet most of the day, but they all suffered through it with the knowledge that by tomorrow everything would hopefully boil over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the afternoon, however, Katherine had had enough. Wanting to do something to help but not knowing what to do, she grabbed Anna’s favourite stuffed dinosaur, a triceratops named Trixie, and wrote Anna a note.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hi Anna,</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t know what you’re mad about, but I hope it’s all okay/it sorts itself out. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve left Trixie on the other side of the door for you, in case you want her, and if you want you can throw her. If it helps. She’s full of beads, so it’ll probably work well. I don’t mind if it’ll make you feel better. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Umm, if you ever wanna talk about anything I’ll listen, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to (Obviously!). Oh, and don’t worry, I’m not loitering by the door.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I hope you’re alright! Bye!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Xx Kat</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tore the page out of her notebook and went to Anna’s door, sliding the note under and leaving the dinosaur on the floor before returning to her room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She heard Anna’s door open and smiled, fighting the urge to look over from her desk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Later that night, when Anna reemerged to eat dinner with everyone, something no matter what was going on everyone took part in as part of the pre-show ritual, a note was passed to Katherine under the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hi Kat,</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Thanks for giving me Trixie, it really helped.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I think I’m all good now, I feel better, but thank you for your offer.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Xx Anna</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>P.S I didn’t throw her, I didn’t have the heart.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine looked up and smiled at Anna, who winked in return.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>V</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Cathy passed out suddenly in the middle of the kitchen, no was completely surprised. Yes, they were all shocked and yes, they all panicked at the time, but as they thought back on it, they weren’t surprised. The girl hardly slept, lived off caffeine, generally had the lifestyle patterns of an owl, and had been having a lot of problems with her blood sugar. It was the second time in a month she’d passed out from that in a month.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Anna jumped into action as everyone in the kitchen started freaking out at the sight of Cathy laying limp on the floor, her fall barley being broken by Anne’s side, “Anne, hold her head still and get ready to comfort her if she wakes up. Jane, help me check her vitals and move her into the recovery position. Kat, remove anything that could be a hazard. ‘Lina, get ready to call 999 if she doesn’t come around in a few seconds, in case it’s her blood sugar again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone quickly followed Anna’s instructions but stopped when Anne started to yell. “Her head’s bleeding! I think she cracked her head open!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone turned to them and sure enough, there was blood covering Anne’s hands and starting to trickle onto the kitchen tiles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh God, okay. ‘Lina, ambulance. Now!” Anna ordered. Everyone’s panic multiplied, and tears started to well in Katherine’s eyes, but she continued to clear the room of anything she thought to be dangerous until the paramedics came and ushered everyone but Anna, who was there to give information, out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catalina lead a very dazed, sobbing Anne to the bathroom to get cleaned up, and Katherine crumpled into Jane’s arms, both of them trying to hold back tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s alright Kitty, she’ll be okay,” Jane assured her, rubbing her arm gently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know what it’s like to be on the other side now, I’m so sorry,” Katherine mumbled, referencing the times she’d passed out after panic attacks, She’d said the same thing after the last time Cathy collapsed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s okay love, not your fault.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m scared, this is twice in a month,” A sob escaped Katherine’s throat, but she bit her lip and forced the others back, now was not the time for her to be crying, “What if she’s got something really wrong with her?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t think like that Kitty. Even if she has something wrong with her, modern medicine is amazing. Now isn’t like before, she’ll be okay. She’s in good hands now,” Jane said. Katherine nodded, remaining silent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, how about you go up and grab Blossom for her? So she can have something with her in the ambulance and the hospital when we can’t be there,” Jane suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katherine nodded again, stumbling up the stairs and grabbing Blossom off the shelf from her room. Blossom was a light brown coloured rabbit, named from the flower fabric in her ears, Cathy’s favourite.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Got her,” She mumbled to no one in particular when she came back downstairs, watching as the paramedics shifted Cathy onto the stretcher. She’d woken up, but wasn’t all there and was looking around dazedly like she didn’t know where she was. The fact was terrifying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, Mr. Paramedic!” Katherine called as the paramedics moved towards the door, “Can you give this to her please?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The paramedic smiled down at her and nodded, taking the rabbit. “Of course, thank you.” He placed it on the bed beside Cathy, telling her it was there. She didn’t respond. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, we need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible, and we’ll talk to you all there. She’s in safe hands with us.” The paramedic gave them a sympathetic smile before turning to go to the ambulance. The girls stood in shocked silence, before racing to the car to follow them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A week later, when they took Cathy in to get her stitches out, the nurse who looked after her during her overnight stay told them that Cathy never let anyone take Blossom from her arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Stuffed animals really do make everything better.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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